


Favored

by Anonymous



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hunger Games Setting, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, M/M, Minor Violence, undetermined ship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:54:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27132113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Tributes weren’t meant to be partners, but San obviously thought otherwise.
Relationships: Choi San/Jung Wooyoung, Jung Wooyoung/Kang Yeosang
Kudos: 19
Collections: anonymous





	1. the Favored

This was only the second day since he arrived at the Capitol, and Wooyoung was already sick of it. The mouth-watering food and the bustling streets were something he’d never seen back at home, but still he couldn’t hide his disgust towards the people living in the Capitol. Not that he hadn’t seen it from the broadcasts before, but now that he was experiencing the process, he finally understood how it felt to have his life as nothing but entertainment. 

Almost every person in the Capitol attended the parade cheering for the tributes yesterday, but Wooyoung knew those people didn’t care for the children who would die in the arena for real.

What was even worse, his mentor was gone half of the time. When he did appear, he didn’t seem to care about the tributes waiting for his instruction at all. Wooyoung didn’t know what his problem was, but he did know that there was no point in counting on the mentor. His partner— could he even call her his partner—seemed to have the idea of joining the Career Tributes. She was staying very close to them in today’s training sessions, trying to strike up a conversation.

The Careers sneered at other kids, and they took a liking to mess with those who were just about to start learning how to use weapons. One of the Careers caught Wooyoung’s eyes during lunch, and gave him a silent threat.

Careers were all extremely arrogant. Wooyoung knew it would be their biggest weak point, and he promised himself he would never satisfy those people and let himself die in their hands.

Sitting at the rooftop, he stared down at the brightly lit streets and the dazzling billboards. His family would be resting at this hour, but the television programs here were still broadcasting and the hosts were debating about the results of the game. They probably wouldn’t stop until morning came.

The wind was too loud on the rooftop, so when Wooyoung realized there were footsteps behind him, it was already too late to hide. He looked up and stared into panicked eyes, apparently the person didn’t expect to see someone else up here. Wooyoung was relieved that the person was not a Peacekeeper, but only another tribute who was about his age.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize there’s someone here already.” The person bit his lips, glancing his surroundings nervously.

With annoyance in his voice, Wooyoung said, “Just sit down if you don’t plan on leaving.”

The person’s eyes lit up, studying Wooyoung’s face before settling down lightly next to him. “The views up here are beautiful. I got caught up and didn’t see you over here. Sorry about that.”

“……you’re from District Five.” Wooyoung eyed the person, “Your costume was stunning. Everyone almost got blind from it.”

Wooyoung was sure the costumes of the tributes from District Five definitely made the headline yesterday. The bright light appeared out of nowhere almost like a bomb. The panic on the Peacekeepers’ faces was the only thing that had made him laugh since he got here.

“My stylist said he wanted to turn us into a sun since our district generates power……I didn’t know he meant it literally.” The person shrugged and let out a small laugh. He started to talk louder now, and introduced himself, “I’m San.”

“……I’m Wooyoung.” He held the hand San extended to him. It seemed inappropriate to be friendly, after all, they were going to kill each other very soon.

Tributes weren’t meant to be partners, but San obviously thought otherwise.

“I brought some desserts. Want some?” San took out a piece of cake and some cookies, “I like the chocolate one, it’s different from the ones I had back home.”

Wooyoung was hesitant with San’s friendliness, but in the end, he couldn’t bring himself to decline. He muttered a thank you and picked out one of the cookies.

“So, how did you find this place?” San curled up, looking up to the dim starlight. 

“……I got angry with my escort. The elevator took me up here.”

San widen his eyes and giggled, choking down the cookie he had just put into his mouth.

“I was really mad about all of this—how did you know this place?” A bit irritated, Wooyoung demanded.

San cleared his throat and sighed, letting the breeze ruffled his hair. “Someone told me if I want a quiet place to myself the rooftop would be a nice choice……I thought I could see the stars from here.”

A brief silence later, San spoke up again. “People are talking about you.”

“I know.” Wooyoung lowered his head and started fiddling with the stone by his feet.

“What’s his name?” San turned his head and looked at him, “The boy you replaced?”

“……Yeosang.” Wooyoung bit his lip and threw the stone, “We grew up together.”

San nodded thoughtfully, “He’s lucky to have you as a friend.”

Wooyoung still remembered the despair and bitterness on Yeosang’s face when he heard his name being called.

When they were still young, Yeosang once asked what he would do if he got picked to be a tribute. His answer was that he would made the Capitol regret having Hunger Games and come back home winning.

He didn’t know it would be Yeosang who got picked. Yeosang had never signed up for tesserae and added any extra name to the reaping ball. Wooyoung was the one who had signed up several times for his family after his older brother was of age. He never thought about the possibility of Yeosang being picked, so when he heard Yeosang’s name got called his mind went blank. A rage of fire burned away any rationality left, and he was blocking Yeosang behind him by the time he got back to his senses.

During the farewell, his mother didn’t cry, nor did she scold him. Instead she held his hands sorrowfully, “I knew you would do something like this. I can only pray for you to come back alive.”

The last person to bid goodbye was Yeosang. 

“Don’t.”

“……but I haven’t said anything yet.” Yeosang stared at the floor with a blank expression.

“I know what you have in mind, but we don’t have time for fights now.” Wooyoung raised his head up and looked at him, “I’m leaving my family to you.”

Yeosang was still staring down, “You’re always like this. You think about what you should do for others, but you don’t care about what they really want. If you die— “

“Don’t worry. I’ll do my best.”

Yeosang opened his mouth, finally looking at him. His eyes were red, tears threatened to fall down.

“I will come back.” He gave Yeosang a last hug before the Peacekeepers dragged him away.

The ordinary smiles San gave him reminded Wooyoung of home. He reminded him of Yeosang.

Wooyoung watched San gripping his shivering hands together hardly. He couldn’t tell whether it was from the anxiety or the coldness. Perhaps both.

“Even if you gave me the cookie, I won’t go easy on you.” Wooyoung said suddenly, “But if we do meet in the arena, I promise I will make it a quick death.”

San blinked, and then he grinned. “You’ll have to find me first.”

“……I’m heading down.” Wooyoung got up and dusted his trousers, “My escort is going to freak out and call the Avox to bring me back.”

“I’m glad I could still meet someone like you in this place.” San went back to gazing at the night sky, “May the odds be ever in your favor.”


	2. the Chosen

Seonghwa was sure he was drawing his dying breath when they finally announced the victor of the 72th Hunger Games. His last opponent, a girl from District Two, was shredded by whatever that was lurking in the water, and he was lucky enough to make it to land before he also got caught. Bleeding out on the hovercraft, he thought the game was over. 

He was wrong. 

He had been so focused on staying alive in the Hunger Game that he forgot what was going to happen after he got out of the arena. 

The Victory Tour Seonghwa went on a few months after he got out of the hospital was even worse than the game itself in his opinion. He was not prepared to face the loved ones of the tributes he had killed or abandoned in the arena, he knew he would never be. Nevertheless, he forced himself to look into the mourning people’s eyes while delivering his speech, hoping they would see through the pretended gratitude towards the Capitol and catch on his condolences for the tributes.

Contrary to the gloomy people he saw on the heart-wrenching tour, the citizens in the Capitol loved him and celebrated his victory greatly. He was one of the few victors that weren’t from the Career districts after all. An underdog turning the table was quite appealing to the people. According to the TV programs, he was also quite good looking. His charming appearance helped him gained some advantages in the arena, but he hadn’t realized what it meant until afterwards, when he got introduced to the people who were too eager to have a cup of tea with him. 

During Seonghwa’s time in the Capitol, he had countless dinners and dates with his fans. Among the fans, he spent the most time with his sponsors. Some of them were young and some of them were old, but one thing they had in common was that they all held unimaginable wealth and connections. He couldn’t afford to upset any of them, so he tried his best to please everyone who came his way.

“I knew I could bet on you. You are the most incredible person I’ve seen my whole life.” A boy barely of age excitedly told him while stuffing his mouth full of food. His eyes sparkled with the joy of getting to talk with the Victor, which Seonghwa assumed he would later brag this encounter to his friends.

“Thank you for having such a high opinion of me.” He gritted out with a thin smile, suppressing the urge of shoving the boy’s face into the table next to them.

After dealing with the over-cheery fans, Seonghwa finally went back home. He tried to return to the normal life he used to live before everything turned into chaos, but his mind refused to let go.

Suffering from nightmares and episodes where he relived the days in the arena, he ended up seeking comfort in the little pills that dragged people out of the reality. He had seen the pills going around before, but he never bothered to understand what it was. 

“Oh, it’ll just calm you down a bit. It’s nothing too serious. You should start relaxing within thirty minutes or so.” The person who introduced him the pills told him nonchalantly as he counted the money.

It wasn’t exactly legal, but his district was big enough to hide many things from the Peacekeepers. He was willing to take the risk of getting caught in exchange for a good night’s sleep. At that time, he didn’t realize he would spend months trying to get rid of the addiction in the future. 

At first, Seonghwa thought it was just one of his crazy fans. The letter with a blue butterfly on it. People from the Capitol all preferred a flamboyant style which he couldn’t really understand, and the blue butterfly was quite pretty—too pretty to belong to someone from his own district. 

The contents in the letters were nothing more of a nice little greeting. At first. But then it started to talk about things that he couldn’t make sense of. Stories about some flowers and animals—like those fairy tales parents told their kids before putting them to bed—were written in the letters. He tossed all of them aside. 

It wasn’t until their Head Peacekeeper mysteriously died in the bathtub when he finally pieced them all together. 

The party he attended back at the Capitol a few months ago which the power outage lasted for a good while, the recent delay of coal export from District Twelve, the bill that should have passed two weeks ago ended up failing because a file was stolen. They were all in the letters.

The stories weren’t nonsense, they were coded information. 

Seonghwa thought the letters were sent to the wrong person, but he was the only one who would receive letters from the Capitol. He wasn’t part of anything special, really. He couldn’t understand why he was sent the letters, and how he got trusted with something so delicate and dangerous was confusing. He came really close to throwing the letters into the fire once he found out what they really were, however, the question of why he received the letters was itching behind his mind.

He kept the letters.

Seonghwa went on with his life, making the effort to spend more time with his family who he ignored when he first got back home. He was the youngest, meaning that no one in the family would die in Hunger Games anymore—until his brother’s family had their own children, which he tried very hard not to think about. In his spare time, he scrutinized the letters trying to get more information on who and where they were from.

Along the way of deciphering the letters, he realized what the storyteller was planning on doing—a rebellion. 

It took him three days to make the decision of helping the rebels. There would be the risk of his whole family being murdered if he got caught, but the moment he was chosen to be a tribute it was determined that he couldn’t turn a blind eye to the opportunity of defeating the Capitol.

Seonghwa realized the potentials of his status. He learned to listen to the whispers when he attended parties and dates in the Capitol. A young Avox came to him one day, handing him a letter with the same blue butterfly on it. He was genuinely surprised how far the rebels had gone in infiltrating the Capitol.

Back at home, Seonghwa began building a good relationship with his mayor, in return gaining access to the news happening in the Capitol. He started to pick on the clues of who might belong to the rebel network and helped covering them up when they got too suspicious. They made small but fatal changes in the hovercrafts they sent to the Capitol, and he was actually quite confident the rebels would have the upper hand when the two forces met on battles. 

Slowly, he abandoned his habits of turning to the pills when things got too difficult. 

He was watching as everyone else was immersed in the Hunger Game when the Capitol got taken down. 

The Huger Game broadcast was cut, and the leader of the rebels showed up on the TV screen instead, announcing the news that the central government was now under their control and the President and the rest of his military forces were either captured or killed.

He heard the murmurings turned into panic shouts going around, but he was uncannily calm. He closed his eyes, a wave of unreal relief washed through him. It had been three years since he got out of the arena and finally there was peace in his mind.

A soldier with a strange uniform came forward, “Excuse me, Mister. Commander Kim would like a word with you.”

Seonghwa opened his eyes, and gladly left the party.


End file.
